Triumph of India's Diplomatic Crusade Against Terror

The message on cross-border terrorism that the multi-party delegations presented resonated strongly in global capitals. Such unity of purpose is indispensable in times of national crisis

- SHASHI THAROOR

As the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, I declared that there is no such thing as a Congress foreign policy or a BJP foreign policy; there is only Indian foreign policy and national interests. Whichever side of the political divide we may be on, when it comes to matters of national security, and when at stake are the sovereignty of India and the safety of its populace, we rally together in the national interest.

Our democratic history is replete with instances of former prime ministers—from Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao to Manmohan Singh—calling upon political colleagues and eminent Indians across party lines to present India's case overseas on matters of national importance. In this spirit of bipartisanship at moments of national peril, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government dispatched seven multi-party delegations of MPs and former diplomats to foreign capitals. Representing a cross-section of the political firmament and their composition reflecting India's regional and religious diversity, yet firmly united in their message, these delegations strove to underscore India's zero-tolerance approach to cross-border terrorism in the wake of the Pahalgam horror and Operation Sindoor.

Another vital goal was to impress on our international interlocutors Pakistan's complicity in such acts of terror and its malign nurturing of terror groups, weaponised against India as an instrument of state policy. The ultimate objective of this outreach was to garner global support for India's counterterrorism efforts—all while driving home the point that the perpetrators of terror and the victims of it must never be spoken of in the same breath, let alone be the object of mediation, as if terrorists and their victims could be placed on an equal plane.